The present invention relates generally to the installation and maintenance of overhead electrical power cables and more particularly concerns the splices used to serially connect lengths of cable.
At the time of cable installation, if cables are too short, a lineman will use a splice to serially connect available lengths of cable to span the necessary distance. If a line breaks, a lineman may have to use a double splice to complete the length of a cable. If a cable is damaged, a lineman will have to cut out the damaged section and splice the original cable, or perhaps double splice a piece of cable into the original cable.
Even when properly installed with or without a splice, cables are typically of braided or twisted aluminum with a steel strand, and will sag over time under their own weight. Sometimes environmental conditions, such as icing during a winter storm, will add sufficient weight to a cable to cause almost immediate sag. Whatever the cause, the dangers of sag in power cables is well-known. When unacceptable sag has occurred, a lineman will cut the sagging cable, remove a section of the cut cable to adjust the cable length and use a splice to serially connect the cut ends of the cable.
Presently known cable splices include a housing in the form of an elongated tube which is symmetrical about a longitudinal axis and in relation to a perpendicular center plane. The elongated tube has a short cylindrical center section with long tapered extensions aligned on the longitudinal axis. The tube center section is stamped against a disc in concentric disposition in the center of the center section.
Each tapered extension contains an elongated split-ring vise grip shorter than its extension. An inner constant-diameter serrated surface complements the outer diameter of the cable to be spliced. An outer tapering diameter complements the taper of the inside wall of the extension. Opposed cable ends are gripped in the splice by the serrated surface, the serrations permitting insertion and preventing withdrawal of the cables into and out of the splice.
Each tapered extension has a spring coiled about the housing longitudinal axis with one end butted against the plastic disc and the other end butted against the thick-wall end of the split-ring vise grip. The spring is capable of compressing until the inner diameter of the split-ring has opened sufficiently to receive the cable to be spliced and of expanding until the tapered outside wall of its vise-grip abuts the tapered inside wall of the extension. Each tapered extension also has a plastic funnel fitting guiding its respective cable end into the clamping inner diameter of its vise-grip.
In association with the known splice, and in accordance with present practice, once a splice has been installed the expanded spring and vise-grip prevent removal of the splice. Since cutting the cable is generally undesirable, a lineman will cut the splice at the plastic disc, destroying the splice but releasing the cable. One lineman may destroy many splices on a typical day.
It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide a tool for and method of removing a splice from an electrical power cable without destroying the splice. It is also an object of this invention to provide a tool for and method of removing a splice from an electrical power cable that simplifies the process of splice removal. It is a further object of this invention to provide a tool for and method of removing a splice from an electrical power cable that simplifies the process of reconnecting the cable.